Welcome to the 21st century. The Cold War, WWII, and WWI are over.The 19th and 20th centuries' class conflicts and colonial issues are behind us. "Oppressed proletariat" and "European expansionism" are no longer relevant. Religious fanatics want their beliefs to rule the world. Free people want to stay that way. Here's my view of the 21st century's great conflict -

Friday, July 3, 2009

Somali-American Rally in Protest Against Terrorism in Minneapolis Today: Probably

The protest rally organized by people in the Somali-American community of Minneapolis, Minnesota, should have been going for about an hour and ten minutes now, with just under two hours to go.

But it's not in the news. Or, rather, some mention of the protest rally showed up in distinctly back-page items. I discussed a possible reason for this high level of reticence shown by the press yesterday. (July 2, 2009)

It's possible that reporters and editors are waiting for the protest to be over, before mentioning it.

While looking for a reference to the Somali-American community's rally in traditional news media, I found a few more-or-less related items.

Mshale ("the African Community Newspaper") confronted the possible involvement of the Abubakar Islamic Center / Abubakar As-Saddique mosque in the disappearance of about 20 young Minnesota men.

"Despite fears of distractions from the missing Somali youth saga that has engulfed the Somali community in Minnesota, the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center held its 9th Annual Convention at the Minneapolis Convention Center over the weekend where thirty speakers addressed 10,000 people over three days. Participants said it was encouraging to see the number of attendees, the breadth of topics, and the scope of talent.

"Despite a tumultuous year, the mosque saw increased attendance at this year's convention and a spike in monetary support...." (Mshale)

Fair enough. The apparent connection between the Abubakar Islamic center / mosque and disappearing Minnesotans may be a perfect storm of coincidences. We'll know more when details of indictments become public knowledge.

Whatever I think of their editorial position, my hat's off to Mshale for confronting the issue, instead of presenting the old formula of tears, FBI harassment and misunderstood victim that Minnesota Public Radio seems to be maintaining. (July 1, 2009)

I think two articles I found about a recent fire in Minneapolis illustrate why Somali-Americans in Minnesota may present a difficult problem for traditional American journalists.

KARE-11, a local television station, and the Minneapolis Saint Paul Business Journal covered a fire which destroyed three small businesses near Peavey Park, where that rally was scheduled. All three were owned by Somalis. Nobody was killed, but being burned out of your business is far from good news: and eight people had to move out of their homes in a hurry.

The fire is being investigated, of course. It appears to have started outside the buildings - but that doesn't necessarily mean arson. There seems to have been a party going on at the time, and people at parties have been known to do daft or careless things.

The point isn't whether the Somalis whose lives were disrupted represent what serious thinkers of the 19th century would have called a 'criminal class,' or what socially-conscious thinkers of the 20th century would have labeled 'victims of hate crimes.' What I see are people who are where my ancestors were a few generations back.

Except these particular Somalis are business owners instead of farmers and laborers.

I can't help but wonder if traditional American journalists - particularly senior editors, who grew up in the same world of relevance and peace symbols that I did - are sincerely puzzled about what angle to take in articles on this new minority.

I've gotten a bit off-topic in this post: but as a Minnesotan, I think that what affects my new neighbors affects me, too. And, I am not at all convinced that the latest wave of immigrants is getting any better treatment in the traditional press than the non-Anglo people who came before them.

Finally, quite a few Somali-Americans came to live in Minnesota because they found it easiest to get the sort of jobs my ancestors held. There aren't so many hod-carriers these days, but jobs in Minnesota's poultry industry serve the same function for newcomers whose command of English isn't quite up to speed.

Americas Interests.blog
an Australian's perspective
(on January 29, 2009 the author announced the end of new posts, and explained his reasons for doing so. He is, however, keeping the 21 months of accumulated posts on line, because of "the role that it plays in a larger ecosystem of information" - I recommend AI as an archival resource. )

Blog 4 Human Rights: Human Rights in Georgia (the nation)
News, Opinions, Videos and Photos (Why blogroll this? Georgia is about 10% Muslim, very near the Middle East: and human rights is a critical part of the War on Terror.)

Defenders Council of Vermont
"...our mission is to educate the citizens of Vermont about the nature, reality and threat of radical Islam, deepen Vermonters' understanding of America's heritage, honor the men and women of the armed services and their families, and support the efforts of others to help our armed forces work with local populations in foreign lands."

DefenseLink Blogger's Roundtable
provides source material for stories in the blogosphere concerning the Department of Defense (DoD) by bloggers and online journalists.

FactCheck.org "aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics". It's "a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania". From what I've seen, this non-partisan website must be quite annoying to all sides

Islamic Circle of North America
"... to seek the pleasure of Allah (SWT) through the struggle of Iqamat-ud-Deen (establishment of the Islamic system of life) as spelled out in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)"

Islamic Society of Central Florida (ISCF)
"...an organization which strives to serve the greater Central Florida community by catering to the social, religious, and educational needs of its Muslim inhabitants."

Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center
A research resource for United States Air Force Air University students, "provided as a public service by Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center and the Maxwell Support Division."

Muslims Against Sharia An organization of Muslims, presumably dedicated "...to educate non-Muslims about the differences between moderate Muslims and Islamists..." - with a curious way of practicing Peace, Love Light, (words in their website's logo).

1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.

The Blogger

Brian, aka Aluwir, aka Nanoc, aka Norski
I'm a married guy, over 50, with four kids in a small central Minnesota town. Despite what's in my Blogger profile's "Interests" section, I'm only interested in three things:

* What exists in the universe
* What exists beyond
* What might exist

My background in history; a checkered work history, and guardedly hopeful attitude toward human goofiness, is off the fiftieth percentile: whether above, below, or to the side, I'm not sure.

It's a different perspective: and one which I believe sets this blog apart from most blogs dealing with this conflict.